Russian sailor’s 50-year-old message in a bottle washes up in Alaska

World's oldest-known message in a bottle found in Perth

The world's oldest-known message in a bottle has been found half buried at a West Australian beach nearly 132 years after it was tossed overboard in the Indian Ocean. A Perth family made the extraordinary historical discovery about 180 kilometres north of the city.

Taylor Ivanoff found a 50-year-old letter in a bottle written by a Russian sailor.Source:Facebook

An Alaskan man searching for firewood has discovered a 50-year-old letter in a bottle from a Russian sailor.

Taylor Ivanoff came across the glass bottle with a cork stopper near Shishmaref, about 966 kilometres northwest of Anchorage, and shared his discovery on his Facebook page, hoping for a translation of the text.

After Mr Ivanoff posted his appeal on social media, Russian speakers translated the message to be a greeting from a Cold War Russian sailor dated June 20, 1969.

“I had to pull really hard. I used my teeth to really work it out,” Mr Ivanoff told The Nome Nugget newspaper of retrieving the message from the bottle.

“It was still dry on the inside and still smelled like wine or whatever, old alcohol. The note was dry.”

The letter included an address and asked for a response from whoever found it:

“Sincere greetings! From the Russian Far East Fleet mother ship VRXF Sulak. I greet you who finds the bottle and request that you respond to the address Vladivostok -43 BRXF Sulak to the whole crew. We wish you good health and long years of life and happy sailing. 20 June 1969.”

Reporters from Russian network, Russia-1, tracked down the author of the note, 86-year-old Captain Anatoly Botsanenko.

The captain was sceptical it was he who had penned the letter until he saw his signature on the bottom of the page.